Ezekiel - Chapter 29

Ezekiel Chapters

1 In the tenth year, on the twelfth day of the tenth month, the word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

2 'Son of man, turn towards Pharaoh king of Egypt and prophesy against him and against the whole of Egypt.

3 Speak and say, "The LordYahweh says this: Look, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt- the great crocodile wallowing in his Niles who thought: My Nile is mine, I made it.

4 I shall put hooks through your jaws, make your Nile fish stick to your scales, and pull you out of your Niles with all your Nile fish sticking to your scales.

5 I shall drop you in the desert, with all your Nile fish. You will fall in the wilds and not be taken up or buried. I shall give you as food to the wild animals and the birds of heaven,

6 and all the inhabitants of Egyptwill know that I am Yahweh, for they have given no more support than a reed to the House of Israel.

7 Wherever they grasped you, you broke in their hands and cut their hands all over. Whenever they leaned on you, you broke, making all their limbs give way.

8 "So, the LordYahweh says this: I shall send the sword against you to denude you of human and animal.

9 Egypt will become a desolate waste, and they will know that I am Yahweh. Because he thought: The Nile is mine, I made it,

10 very well, I am against you and your Niles. I shall make Egypt a waste and a desolation, from Migdol to Syene and beyond to the frontiers of Ethiopia.

11 No human foot will pass through it, no animal foot will pass through it. For forty years it will remain uninhabited.

12 I shall make Egypt the most desolate of countries; for forty years its cities will be the most desolate of wasted cities. And I shall scatter the Egyptians among the nations and disperse them among the countries.

13 The Lord Yahweh, however, says this: After forty years have passed, I shall gather the Egyptians back from the nations where they were dispersed.

14 I shall bring the Egyptian captives back and re-install them in the land of Pathros, in the country of their origin. There they will constitute a modest kingdom.

15 Egypt will be the most modest of kingdoms and no longer dominate other nations; for I shall reduce it, so that it will not rule other nations ever again.

16 It will no longer be anything for the House of Israel to trust in, but will be a reminder of the guilt which lay in turning to it for help. And they will know that I am Lord Yahweh." '

17 In the twenty-seventh year, on the first day of the first month, the word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows:

18 'Son of man, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has taken his army in a great expedition against Tyre. Their heads have all gone bald, their shoulders are all chafed, but even so he has derived no profit, either for himself or for his army, from the expedition mounted against Tyre.

19 Since this is so, the LordYahweh says this, "Look, I shall hand Egypt over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. He will carry off its riches, loot it, put it to the sack; that will be the wages for his army.

20 As wages for the trouble he has taken, I am giving him Egypt instead (for they have been working for me)-declares the Lord Yahweh.

21 "That day, I shall raise up a new stock for the House of Israel and allow you to open your mouth among them. And they will know that I am Yahweh." '

More Bible

Reading 1, Exodus 16:2-4, 12-15: 2 And the whole community of Israelites began complaining ... Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 78:3-4, 23-24, 25, 54: 3 What we have heard and know, what our ... Gospel, John 6:24-35: 24 When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were ... ... continue reading

Bible Resources

The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) is a Catholic translation of the Bible published in 1985. The New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) has become the most widely used Roman Catholic Bible outside of the United States. It has the imprimatur of Cardinal George Basil Hume.

Like its predecessor, the Jerusalem Bible, the New Jerusalem Bible (NJB) version is translated "directly from the Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic." The 1973 French translation, the Bible de Jerusalem, is followed only "where the text admits to more than one interpretation." Introductions and notes, with some modifications, are taken from the Bible de Jerusalem.

Source: The Very Reverend Dom (Joseph) Henry Wansbrough, OSB, MA (Oxon), STL (Fribourg), LSS (Rome), a monk of Ampleforth Abbey and a biblical scholar. He was General Editor of the New Jerusalem Bible. "New Jerusalem Bible, Regular Edition", pg. v.